Intimacy, intercourse and adjustments: Experiences of sexual life of a group of people with physical disabilities in South Africa

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the sexual and reproductive rights of people with disabilities, and since the World Health Organisation’s World Report on Disability, increased international attention has been given to these issues. Past research, however, suggests that this group encounter barriers to sexual and reproductive rights, which are both physical and attitudinal. Against this backdrop, this article employs a sequential mixed qualitative methodology to explore the practical and subjective experiences of 13 people with physical disabilities in South Africa, with regard to their sexual lives and experiences of sexuality. These experiences were marked by concerns about their ‘fitness’ as sexual beings and indicated that social forces were key in shaping their expectations for their own sexual life.